Archive for September, 2007

Sep 28, 2007

Scott Weisbrod

Published by
Scott Weisbrod

Topics
Compelling Experiences, Delivering Results and Methods of Work
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Collaborative Design, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Escape the Vicious Cycle of Review and Revisions

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Those of us in the business of planning and building compelling experiences have all been there. You know what I’m talking about - that point where, in a project that’s been going great, you feel like you’re slowly losing sight of the original vision and the process has become a steady flow of revisions with no real end in site.

At Critical Mass, we employ a couple of collaborative design methods that help our teams escape what I call the vicious cycle of review and revisions.

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Sep 28, 2007

Dave Robertson

Published by
Dave Robertson

Topics
Brand Experience and Customer Insight
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She got mail!

Justine's Bill!

This is Justine and, boy - did she get mail! About three hundred pages in a box from AT&T, her cellular provider. Apparently, it was something to do with her new iPhone.

Justine created a video that’s been viewed over 680,000 times on YouTube. USAToday Online published an article about it titled “How many trees did your iPhone bill kill?“. Ow.

So, with this little brand incident in mind, it’s time for me to answer the question from my last post.

So what does green have to do with digital and brands?

Sep 21, 2007

David Armano

Published by
David Armano

Topics
Evolving Talent Needs, Global Implications and Organizational Implications
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“Digabilities”: Essential “Abilities” for Thriving in The Digital Age

Will the current version of the Ad industry business model survive? Bob Garfield of Advertising Age doesn’t seem to think so. And while he simplifies the issues and offers solutions like blogger outreach programs—he may be on to something. One of the many problems that the Ad industry faces is that some organizations have massive, well oiled machines in place that produce a product. The product is called advertising—it usually starts with a print or video and the Ad factories across the world has gotten very good at manufacturing mass Advertisements in all shapes and sizes.

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Sep 20, 2007

Neil Clemmons

Published by
Neil Clemmons

Topics
Customer Insight and Methods of Work
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How Good a Listener Are You?

There’s an old adage, “You were born with two ears and one mouth. Make sure you use them with that ratio in mind.” After sitting in sessions this week at Shop.org, the annual gathering of retailers in Vegas, we were reminded of that adage.

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Sep 14, 2007

Neil Clemmons

Published by
Neil Clemmons

Topics
Brand Experience
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How renting a car turns ugly

The rental car experience from hell…

I travel a lot in my work. A couple of weeks back I had to be at a client meeting and flew in, only to realize I had neglected to reserve a rental car. Avis - sold out. Hertz - sold out. Budget - sold out. Enterprise - sold out. I ended up with a reservation with Thrifty Rental Car by calling our travel group. It was the last rental car available.
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Sep 14, 2007

Neil Clemmons

Published by
Neil Clemmons

Topics
Brand Experience, Customer Insight, Delivering Results, Emerging Technology, Evolving Talent Needs, Global Implications and Organizational Implications
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Welcome to Experience Matters

Welcome to Experience Matters - the collective thinking of Critical Mass on great experiences and what it takes to pull them off. Our past tells us great experiences are a lot of work - in planning, execution, and refinement. After all, if they were easy, everyone would be doing them. In fact, they’re as much art as science.

We’re writing this as a company blog from an agency that has had the pleasure of working with some amazing clients including Dell, Rolex, P&G, Mercedes-Benz, and Global Hyatt among others. Our work spans the brand and transactional space; from strategy through implementation. Much of it is global in nature. You can learn more about our company at www.criticalmass.com, or check in here periodically and we’ll keep you abreast on our work and thinking.

We’ve assembled a cross section of our team, from planners to creatives; from information architects to analysts; from technologists to marketers. We’ll engage some of our clients and others in the industry as the blog grows to discuss how better experiences that can deliver better results - to the business and the customer. We plan to discuss both “the what” and “the how.”

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Sep 14, 2007

David Armano

Published by
David Armano

Topics
Brand Experience, Customer Insight, Delivering Results and Emerging Technology
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Building Blocks of a Successful Digital Experience: Part One

House

It’s been said before—planning, designing, and building a successful digital experience is not unlike building a house. And like all good homes, a successful digital experience bears similar hallmarks of a well constructed building. It’s structurally sound, the plumbing and wiring works—it’s got curb appeal. And of course a home can be unique—both on the inside and out. Interior and exterior design appeals to our emotions, sensibilities, and preferences. Some home designs attract us while others do not. Sometimes it’s subjective and sometimes it isn’t. (more…)

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Sep 13, 2007

Dave Robertson

Published by
Dave Robertson

Topics
Customer Insight
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Whadda ya mean “green”?

I recently finished Yvon Chouinard’s book. Let My People Go Surfing, and it’s inspired me to look at the idea of the “green brand” online. When I choose this subject, I thought I had it all sewn up - the subject is trendy, front of mind, and inspires debate.

Then someone asked what I meant by a green brand.

Hmmmm - uh - well - good question….

Sep 13, 2007

Geoff

Published by
Geoff Sowrey

Topics
Brand Experience
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The iPhone is obsolete

Unless you’ve been living in the middle of Mongolia for the last six months, you know that Apple’s iPhone is one of the hottest products of 2007. It’s heralding a new breed of mobile devices. It’s forcing dramatic changes in the wireless landscape. It’s expensive, but to almost everyone who uses one, it’s worth the cost. It’s generated at least one phone copy cat (and even a router).

It’s all that and a bag of chips.

Only one problem: it’s already obsolete. Gathering dust. Old news. How did it become passé so quickly? Because Steve Jobs said so.

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Sep 13, 2007

Matthew Milan

Published by
Matthew Milan

Topics
Customer Insight
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The Nature of Insight

Ever wonder about the inspiration for great work? It’s based on meeting needs that have not been met, or connecting in a way that hasn’t been done. We call it insight, and we think about it a lot.

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